Emily’s War Dance for Hurricane Bob

August 20, 1991

Our young family lived in Windham, Maine. Our home was located in a thick forest of pine trees. Hurricane Bob had arrived in its full fury. The roar of the wind through the pine trees was deafening. It shrieked through the trees with a sound that was truly frightening. The rain was coming down in torrents. The trees were pitching and writhing with alarming motion.  I was very worried that a tree would blow over and crush my house or harm my family. However, my 11 year old daughter Emily had a very different reaction to this spectacle. She grabbed an umbrella and ran out onto our driveway to experience the full majesty of the storm. She shouted and whooped and jumped with the excitement of the moment. She was so inspired by the awesome power of nature that she couldn’t contain her emotions within her. They came flowing out in great shouts of exuberance and leaps of pure, unbridled excitement. I remember feeling envious of her ability to allow her emotions to explode to such heights. I cannot remember ever being able to abandon all emotional restraint like this. I was much too distracted by worry to consider extracting some form of joy from this most unsettling occasion.